


What We Left in the Ashes and Embers

by Echo_Dot



Category: Overwatch (Video Game), r76 - Fandom, reaper76 - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Athena needs more love, Don't Like Don't Read, Drama, Drama & Romance, Flashbacks, Gabriel Doesn't know what to do when the time comes, Gabriel is Mad, Gabriel still loves Jack, Gay, Golden Days of Overwatch (Flashbacks), I love angst, Jack is in mourning, Jack is sad, Lots of Angst, M/M, Post-Fall of Overwatch, Protective Gabriel, Reaper76 - Freeform, Sombra (Overwatch) is a Little Shit, Sombra likes meddling, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, lots of flashbacks, r76
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 04:56:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13850541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echo_Dot/pseuds/Echo_Dot
Summary: It’s been nearly ten years. Overwatch is gone from the public eye, forgotten, and so are Jack Morrison and Gabriel Reyes. Their message, their work, their victories, none of it is remembered, only the mutilated half-truth of their mistakes remains. Yet here they still stand, broken and divided. Not dead and not quite living.Every day is a struggle for survival, but the thought of dying before saying goodbye is more than either of them can handle. So they keep going, keep hoping that the other will be the one to say “Hello again”.Sombra, meanwhile, is sick of Gabe brooding and forcing her to keep surveillance of Soldier 76 in the name of “intel”, so she takes their lives into her own hands.A fire is only dead once the embers cool to ashes, without the lingering heat of embers there is no risk of flames. While their fire never really died, they have left themselves with just the ashes and embers.





	What We Left in the Ashes and Embers

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I hope you checked all of the tags and if you see this ~~~~~ in a line across the bottom of the page, if the text is italics it signifies a flashback or quote but if its normal text, it switches perspective, because this is a multi-perspective fic.

_ There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.      _

_ ~Washington Irving _

 

Jack always knew it should never have been him that lived. He believed, morally so, that it wasn’t he who deserved it.  After all, he wanted to die, so, so, long ago. 

Despite how much he tried, praying to go back in time and change everything he had ever done didn’t seem to work, seeing as he kept on waking up cold and alone, the warm body next to him long gone, and the comforting scent of aftershave on his pillow faded years ago, like the rest of his existence. No, he woke up next to the evidence of the previous night's desperate trials to forget and lose himself to the inside of a bottle. Even in his grandest and most reckless attempts of chaos and danger, he couldn’t seem to let himself die either, chalking it up to some moronic and primal sense of self-preservation. 

The dripping of a steady stream of leaking water could be heard from just inside the building as he stepped through the weather-worn threshold, a faded label still clinging desperately to the wall. Although he didn’t need to read it, the letters wrote out, WP-G-A1-B.

Breaking in was surprisingly easy, all he did was shoot the lock and the automatic door slowly groaned its way open using the last of its power reserves.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something triggered her internal alarm, someone was on base. Where did the alarm come from? She checked the systems, south wing? No entries. North wing? No entries. East wing? Halfway through the check of the armouries, a red light went off. The lock had been broken for the entrance of Blackwatch Armory Number One. Next step in her programming said to check the cameras, so she did just that, but found all of them were down. She accessed the locking systems next, whoever was there should stay there till she could ask Winston what to do. Seeing they were all accessible she locked them, then sent a surge of power to the building, hoping the circuits weren’t completely broken. She rechecked the cameras, and found one useable this time. A figure walked passed the camera’s scope and she called for an analysis on who they may be based on heat signature and any agent or criminal databases.

The scan didn’t last long. Within the first minute of the search the weapon, gate, and height were all pinged as consistent with the last existing physical and armoury report for an improbable and impossible result. 

Athena immediately sent a red alert to Winston's room only. No one else needed to be notified. Her discoveries were beyond her programming’s wildest dreams and needed to be dealt with immediately.

Jack Morrison was dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

If Overwatch was still a thing, he would have talked to Winston about the lack of security. 

He stepped inside and looked layers of a decade old dust sitting untouched on top of hastily packed crates and black concrete floor, only shifting into plumes of debris when his heavy footsteps passed over top.

An eerie sense of loss surrounded him as he walked through of the watchpoint again. Although he wasn’t stationed in Gibraltar often, it would still be the first official Overwatch base, and where Gabriel and him could finally be free. He shut his eyes and shook his head, that name shouldn’t be mentioned, not here not now. Not ever. 

The watchpoint was once the epicenter for new recruits and science alike. Zurich had been more focused on military power, so the science combination of training and research was one of his favorite “getaways”.

He reached back into his mind to try and recall the layout of the building. It was fuzzy, but he could still picture it. Straight ahead was the armoury and training arena, more specifically, commander Reyes’s private range and Jack’s old hideout. Slightly to the right of that was Reyes’s watchpoint Gibraltar barracks. He realized in a crushing instant that this was where he had shared his last happy night with Gabriel. Before they were separated for weeks on end because of the ever-increasing workload and their seemingly never-ending fights. 

This was one of the memories that Jack escaped to when everything seemed pointless and his hand hovered over the handgun that went unused at his side. When the single silver bullet engraved with their names whispered sweet nothings into his ears as he pressed the barrel against his forehead and let endless streams of tears slip down his face.

Gabriel would kiss the greying hair at his temples and tell him that he was just as beautiful as the day they met.  When the sun illuminated his face in just the right way and his hazel eyes were filled with color and life, and for a minute, he could pretend everything was alright. When Gabe left for work and promised that he’d come home soon, he could put down the gun and convince himself that maybe, he’d walk through the door and tell him he forgot his keys or phone, that he could live in a memory.

It never happened, the door stayed shut, and the memory faded away in a wisp of regrets. But it was enough to take the gun from his head and wait a bit longer, for that fire to start and the embers to turn to flames.

Sometimes in his memories, Gabriel would appear black and white, like the photos put on the personnel reports of the deceased. That part of him couldn't comprehend Gabriel was still alive. Not after he had seen him die. So Gabriel’s sweet mocha skin and whiskey eyes appeared dull and grey, and his touches where ghostly whispers on his skin instead of the gentle, yet firm, caresses on his skin that he knew they used to be. 

But a large part of him knew Gabriel was still alive. Now that was the part that dreamed of him in color, that sent phantom kisses on his lips and passionate touches on his body. The part that looked in his dulling eyes and told him that they were still as beautiful as the day he first saw them. The part that pretended that he’d wake up in Switzerland and hear Fareeha’s laughter down the hallway and listen to Gabriel’s soft breathing next to him while feeling his strong arm wrapped around his chest. It’s like his brain couldn’t comprehend what had happened, that he’d wake up in that dusty old apartment alone. 

He scoffed to himself in the silence of the echoey warehouse, only the reverberations of his own voice greeting him instead of rows of saluting recruits.

He entered the first room, and, if he could recall correctly, this had been the Blackwatch armoury, the fierce skull of an owl staring down at him as he traversed the wide distance of the room slowly, as if confirming his recollection. Its red eyes seemed to follow him around the room as he stepped quietly across the floor like he was scared of disturbing the eerie peace that had settled around the empty building. was attempting not to wake anything. He locked eye contact with the red eyes, a sense of discomfort settled itself in his stomach as he kept walking towards his destination. The silence hung in the air like someone had pinned it against a wall. Then all at once, the silence was broken and something clattered from beneath his foot. Immediately he brought up his weapon and turned on the scanning feature of his visor, breaking eye contact with the bird, the unease giving way to years of instinct and training. He swept the room visually once, twice, three times, the infrared sensor not even finding the signature of a mouse. When he felt that nothing was amiss he switched off the scanning feature of his visor and relaxed his posture. The next step was to see what he had stumbled upon, and as he looked down, he truly wished he hadn’t. Nausea swelled in his stomach with a violent ferocity and tears welled like broken floodgates in his eyes. 

Gabriel’s shotgun.

 

His mask was too hot, too small, the air wasn’t breathable. His knees were weak too, did he forget to drink water? Too hot. Not enough room. His heart was racing a million miles a minute and the tears in his eyes held no regard for the mission. He ripped off his mask and began to hyperventilate, the slightly cooler air hitting his face and doing no favors to quell the anxiety and panic rising in his body. Attempting to subdue the urge to vomit, pass out and die all at the same time, he fell to the floor and his mask hit the ground with a small clatter. He once thought he was a harder man to break, that nothing could force his hand in emotion anymore. But he was wrong, and all it took was a gun. 

Gingerly, he picked it up as if the sturdy steel and titanium would shatter beneath his grip. He ran his shaky fingers over the surface, the metal faintly sparkling with a red glint as the pale light from his visor reflected off. He gently moved his still trembling fingers over to the grip, his hand sliding easily into position, yet lacking the perfection of the exact fit of Gabriel's hand. He closed his eyes and a few other tears slipped past his boundaries. 

It was just a gun, why was he so upset? 

A sob spasmed in his chest. His tears continued to drop off of his chin and onto the ground, mixing with the thick layer of dirt and dust on the ground. He turned it and flipped it to the back, carefully running a finger over the part where he knew there was an engraving with Gabriel’s favorite quote, 

_ “You can’t wield two shotguns Gabe” - Jack Morrison, the asshole of my life and jerk of my stars. _

_ Te amo mi sol. _

His face cracked into a broken and sad smile,

“Te amo mi luna” He whispered like a prayer gently rolling the nickname over his unpracticed tongue. He continued to inspect the barrel, the hammer, and the iconic decals to one half of the deadly duo. From his weapon choice to bedroom style, Gabriel Reyes was never a subtle man. 

Jack missed the giant personality and sarcastic attitude that he could never quite copy in his memories. He missed his eyes that could never truly hide any emotion that seemed to be eternally filled with love and joy until, that awful day when they just weren’t. 

He missed his small romantic gestures that somehow managed to be just as meaningful as the small ones. Even a note in his duster pocket had that signature flare and sass that made his heart soar. He missed his competitive spirit and urge to win, the need to show off and prove he was the best, but only when it was appropriate, he never pressed real boundaries. He couldn’t even prove he was good at holding two guns at the same time without showing off. 

When the sob spasmed in his chest he didn’t stop it this time, a broken and hoarse cry falling out of his throat. 

The memory took him quickly after that.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_ “Beat that.” Jack announced proudly as Athena relayed his stats from the simulation. 30 headshots, 40 final blows and it was all in under 10 minutes. He flashed his typical Strike commander Shit-Eating grin as a minor attempt to grate on Gabriel’s nerves _

 

_ “Bet I can.” Gabe smirked back, crossing his arms and facing away from the range towards the newly appointed, strike commander.  _

_ “Nuh uh.”  _

_ “Yeah huh.” _

_ “Bet you can’t” Jack teased childishly, sticking his tongue out and placing his rifle carelessly on the counter, flicking on the safety with a practiced finger. _

_ “Uh, yes I can.” Gabe pouted, sticking out his bottom lip and crossing his arms, his shotguns already on the counter. The second one was a new addition after the formation of the ‘Official’ Overwatch, the SEP never would have allowed anything other than the regulation weapons, something Jack had stuck with, but Gabe had loathed the whole time. _

_ Ready to prove Gabe wrong, Jack picked up his gun again, and steadied his stance. The cleaning bots already dashing back into their cubbies after picking up the pieces of the shattered targets. Jack exhaled and readied himself to shoot, eyes focusing on the range while preparing for the next wave of slow moving targets. He placed his index finger on the trigger, and flipped the safety back off with his left thumb. Ready to fire at a moments notice once the light switched on that the range was hot. _

_ “Hey Jack.” Gabe interrupted, breaking his concentration. _

_ “What.” He asked turning his attention away from the range, and pointing his gun at the floor like second nature. _

_ “Watch this”  _

_ “Why do I already feel like this is a bad idea?” _

_ “Because it always is?” Gabe answered maniacally with that glint in his eyes and grin on his face that made Jack’s cheeks turn a light shade off pink. Laughing, Jack set his gun on the counter and switched the safety back on. Gesturing for the other commander to continue.  _

_ That was all he needed, hopping over the small divider, meant to protect you from downrange and drawing up his guns. _

_ “You know they put that divider there to KEEP you from the other side right?” Jack pointed out as he hoised himself next to his rifle, toes barely touching the ground. Gabe gave him his trademark sarcastic shrug and crossed his arms across his chest, shotguns sticking out menacingly off his shoulders. Gabe just gave him a look and turned around.  _

_ “Athena?” He called cockilly, shifting his hips to the side, showing enough attitude to convey his overconfident facial expression, which was most certainly hiding behind his back. _

_ “Yes commander Reyes?” The AI chimed lightly, voice floating over the speakers. _

_ “Set bots to, ludicrous speed.”  _

_ “That’s not a setting Gabe” Jack laughed as he raised his eyebrows and waited for the AI’s response. _

_ “Setting bots to, Ludicrous Speed.”   _

_ “What the fuck.” Jack whispered as Gabe winked over his shoulder and focused his attention onto the field. _

_ “Athena?” Gabe hailed. _

_ “Yes?” She acknowledged as she waited for his comment. _

_ “Thank Torby for me”  Jack swore he heard Athena giggle. _

_ “Sending ‘Thank you’ to Torbjorn Lindholm”  _

_ “Gracias”  _

_ “Denada, Commander Reyes”  _

_ “Athena?” Jack added quietly, cheeks red from barley contained laughter.  _

_ “Yes. Commander Morrison?” She responded easily as ever. _

_ “Remind me to schedule a meeting with,” He requested while glaring at Gabe “Torby”  _

_ “Setting a reminder for tomorrow.” Gabe abruptly cleared his throat, and Jack, who had completely given up at this point, lifted his hand as a gesture of a go-ahead.  _

_ “Start Ludicrous speed” Gabe hollered. The bots began to rush quickly to a pre programmed-simulation  _

_ “You can’t be fucking-” The bots started moving and Jack stared agape. Although they couldn’t fire lethal shots, only taser shots that would sting for a bit and do no more damage than a paintball, even Jack was uneasy as the bullets fired rapidly out of their arms, dissolving into the surfaces they made impact with. _

_ Jack knew it was wrong to watch people fight and  _ enjoy  _ it but man, did he love watching Gabriel use his godly combat skills on some unsuspecting robots. Gabriel stepped quickly to the left, narrowly missing the small pellet fire from a bot across the field, reaching out with his right arm to blast the training machine next to him to smithereens. The bots moved, focusing on him like a swarm of angry bees, never ceasing to stop fire. He used his other arm to shatter the one that tried to sneak up on him, his advanced hearing picking up on the whirr of its engines. Despite his fancy footwork, he was in the middle of the range with no cover, and the bots surrounding him guns charging up for a heavier shot, Jack opened his mouth ready to shout for Athena to cut off the simulation, not wishing to perform CPR on Gabriel or explaining to Dr. O'Deorain that Gabe had gotten himself full of taser bullets.  _

_ Then Gabe did something he never would have imagined in a million years, he crossed his guns and arms over his chest and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath,  _

_ “G-” and the scream died in his throat as Gabe spun on his heel and fired his guns seemingly randomly, each shell hitting it’s target, the bots falling like raindrops in a storm. Jack could have sworn he fired more than 16 times, but decided it was his counting that was off. Wisps of smoke traveled off of the corpses of the bots and hovered in the air for just a minute before they dissipated somewhere in the whirlwind of destruction he had created. _

_ “Stop the simulation Athena.” Gabe said camly, flicking a stray spring off of his shoulder. Gabe casually walked forward and hopped over the divider with a single bound. Landing with a roll on the other side, ending him only a foot in front of Jack. Placing his guns on the counter beside Jack, he extended his hand for Jack and lowered his head like the epitome of chivalry. _

_ “You fucking ass,” Was the only thing Jack could get out through amazement and laughter. Jack took Gabriel’s hand and hopped off the counter effortlessly. “How long you’ve been working on that one?”  _

_ “Since they built Gibraltar” Gabe shrugged as he subtly pulled Jack closer, slipping his arms around his back gently, clasping his hands and resting them squarely on Jack’s hips. _

_ “So you waited till they gave you your own private training room to pull one of the most dangerous combat moves i’ve ever seen you do?” Jack asked accusingly voice as quiet as a whisper he knew only they could hear and no cameras could pick up.  Gabe’s breath hitched ever so slightly as Jack leaned closer to his ear, “You trying to impress me?”  _

_ “If I say yes?” Gabe pushed, unclasping his hands and sliding them past Jack’s hips and underneath the blue duster. Jack’s eyes fell half lidded, and he let out a small sigh while nipping the Blackwatch commander ear ever so slightly.  _

_ “Then i'll have to teach you a lesson, maybe by starting by taking away those shells on your belt.”  _

_ “Mmm,” Gabe hummed, grasping Jack’s ass firmly, and letting go, allowing his calloused palms to rest as he achieved the beautifully gravely moan he was looking for. “Helps that i have a reminder of what’s mine on the field.”  _

_ “What would that be?” Jack pushed, gently putting his mouth on Gabe’s skin and biting down, allowing for a hiss to escape the other man’s lips.  _

_ “My favorite quote from you,” Jack nodded encouragingly as he moved on to the small part of collarbone exposed by the top of his soft sweatshirt.  _

_ “You can’t wield two shotguns Gabe” Gabe mocked affectionately, using one of his hands to point Jack’s still stunning ocean blue eyes up at him.  _

_ “Well it seems that you’re the one that’s punishing me” Jack smiled as he stole a brief kiss from Gabriel’s lips, whining softly when Gabe pulled away.  _

_ “I creditied you and everything, “ Jack raised an eyebrow and smirked as Gabriel leaned into his ear this time, returning the small lusty gesture. “It says  ‘Jack Morrison, asshole of my life and jerk of my stars” Jack pulled away slightly in laughter which Gabe participated in wholeheartedly.  _

_ “The best part is that that asshole part has a double meaning” He smirked and Jack slapped his arm half heartedly, letting his head fall onto Gabe’s shoulder, who picked up his chin once again. “It ends with te amo mi sol.” _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Te amo mi luna.” Jack whispered again, waking slightly from his stupor. “Para siempre por siempre” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Jack had failed to notice was the lack of dust on the gun, and the extremely convenient placement. But the girl who watched didn’t. She knew his secrets, and knew how to break him. When the vigilante broke down and sobbed, she smiled. 

Stage one of her plan had started without a hitch.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations->  
> Te amo mi sol- I love you my sun  
> Te amo mi luna- I love you my moon  
> Para siempre por siempre- Forever and ever  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
> Hi Guys! Thank you all for sticking with me through this! This is an idea that I’ve had for a long time and I'm so glad to be able to share it with you. Before I can really tell you about it, I want to thank my beta readers melodywolf and Robin for making sure this all makes sense.  
> I also want to thank Alphodus Longstaffe for writing Boyscout which was my main inspiration for this work.  
> I absolutely adore stories that take place both post and pre fall, which is why my story will handle both. I don't subscribe to the Gabe is an asshole for the sake of being an asshole theory because I don't even think blizzard does. But we’ll get into why they don't talk anymore later.  
> I want to thank you all for reading and hope to get the next chapter up relatively soon.
> 
> Comments are uber appreciated, and I love hearing your opinions and feedback.


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